Dr Faruqi made public correspondence between herself and the Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford, that showed the audit office had originally planned to audit the Newcastle spending program in 2019-20.

But after Dr Faruqi complained about the timing – saying it was little use doing it after the work was finished – the scheduling of the audit was brought forward, and is now displayed on the audit office website as taking place in the 2017-18 year.